Have a better UAC experience with Norton User Account Control

Sat, 11/08/2008 - 23:56 — Ciprian

This summer we asked our visitors about the Windows Vista features that should be improved on Windows 7. One of the very discussed features was the User Account Control (UAC). Many people find it rather annoying, therefore they would like to see it improved. Even though Windows Vista Service Pack 1 diminished the number of UAC prompts that one can encounter, it can still get annoying to some users. Despite being easy to disable it, it is not a wise choice, as it exposes you to much more security threats. To keep the annoyance level at a minimum, there are several alternatives to UAC. I'm going to present you one of them, called Norton User Account Control. I've tested it for three weeks now on two different computers and I find it a great alternative to the standard UAC.

First, go to this page, click on the Download button, choose the version you need and install it. Once installed, Norton User Account Control prompts will replace the normal UAC prompts. A prompt window will look like in the screenshot below.

Norton User Account Control

As you can see, it is not very much different from a normal Windows Vista UAC prompt. Aside from the visual aspects, the most important difference is the existence of a 'Don't ask me again' option. If you check this option and then click on Allow, each time you repeat the same action (for example: launch the same application or control panel window), you will no longer see an UAC prompt and the action will take place as if you clicked on the Allow button again.

This is extremely helpful as it can minimize the number of prompts you need to click through in order to run an application which requires administrative permission. Also, you can configure specific aspects of the operating system and receive the UAC prompt only the first time.

However, you should be careful when using the 'Don't ask me again' option. Here are a few helpful guidelines for keeping your system safe while reducing the number of UAC prompts:

Do not check the 'Don't ask me again' option when installing applications. This won't help you lower the number of prompts you receive.
If one of your installed applications requires administrative permissions and you receive an UAC prompt when you launch it, then check this option. The next time you will launch it, you won't receive any prompts.
Make sure you check this option only for programs which you know they are safe and do not compromise the security of your system.

NOTE: One thing we noticed is that this application gets installed only for the current logged on user. If you want to use it for more than one user, you should install it manually on each user. Also, users must be administrators. Otherwise it doesn't work. On limited accounts, Norton User Account Control doesn't replace the normal UAC.

How to disable UAC
Disable User Account Control (UAC) for certain Windows Vista applications
Tweak the User Account Control (UAC)

Comments

Mon, 11/10/2008 - 20:48 — Eternal Optimist (not verified)

NUAC

Great program to replace that which I do consider slightly annoying at times.
Thanks :)

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 05:06 — [email protected]

Norton User Account Control

User Account Control (UAC) is a security feature of Microsoft Windows Vista that changes the architecture of the access token creation process and prevents users from logging on with full administrative rights.
While the intent of this feature may have been enhanced security, all too often users need administrative rights for routine tasks like installing/updating programs and changing operating system settings. Additionally, many software applications need the appropriate access to run properly. This leads to poor user experiences because UAC always prompts the user on every administrative task. The prompts are slow to display and appear frequently without warning. Also, UAC prompts are confusing and do not provide users with any recommendations. This actually raises security concerns because prompting the user for every action with the intent that the user misses nothing is a false security model. The more a user is prompted, the more likely it is that he or she will dismiss the prompt without reading it.

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